How To Reach Mirissa

Mirissa is a small town located on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Matara District, approx. 93 miles to the south of Colombo. It is situated 13 ft above the sea level and Mirissa’s nightlife and lovely beaches make it a popular tourist spot, not to forget a famous whale & dolphin watch location. Mirissa also has the largest fishing port and is known for its wide variety of mullet, tuna, butterfish and snapper fish.

A perfect spot to unwind in and at the crossroad between Unawatuna & Tangalle, Mirissa is one of the most popular beach towns in Sri Lanka. The beach is beautiful, less crowded and the outskirts are adorned with palm trees. The water’s incredibly blue & green with clean sand all over. Here's a little guide to help you reach Mirissa.

Sri Lanka’s got one international airport which is the Bandaranaike Airport, located about 35 km from Colombo and is one of the busiest airports in South Asia. With over a 100 combinations of flights operating on the India-Colombo travel sector, there are flights from all the major Indian cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and a couple from Madurai/Kolkata. The travel duration varies depending on your choice of budgeted flights and expensive flights with time-varying between 6 hours to 34 hours.

The closest airport to Mirissa is the Koggala Airport which is about 14 km away. However, the best and recommended ways to reach Mirissa are train, bus, car or taxi.

In Sri Lanka, the frequency of trains may be less in comparison to traveling by bus; however, in most cases, trains are quicker than bus travel. There’s a train from the Colombo Fort station every four hours for Weligama, which costs INR 55-190 and takes about 2 hours and a few minutes. From Weligama Station to Mirissa is just 6 minutes by cab, costing INR 170-220.

The buses to Mirissa are frequent from most places in Sri Lanka including Colombo, which will drop you off closer to the beach and from there you can hail a tuk-tuk to your hotel. From the Colombo Bastian Mawatha Bus Terminal, there’s a bus every 2 hours to Matara Bus Station which takes about 5 hours to reach there, costing INR 80-190. From the Matara Terminal, you can hail a taxi/tuk-tuk and reach Mirissa in less than 15 minutes.

If spending money isn’t an issue then you can enjoy a leisurely ride via private transfers or shared cabs and they’d cost you depending on your choice of destination and how effectively you can haggle! A taxi ride to Mirissa will be about 2 hours, covering 148 km.

Mirissa is a small town to access easily on foot, however, if you’d like to enjoy without tiring yourself, there are plenty of tuk-tuks to take you around, with alternate options of renting a scooter or boarding a bus passing through the main road.